Undertaker&#39;s cooling-board.



PATENTED NOV. 29, 1904;

L. B. FOSDIOK. UNDERTAKERS COOLING BOARD.

APPLICATION FILED MAR. 2 1904.

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Inventor Witnesses wfiu,

M Attorney ITED STATES Patented November 29, 1904.

PATENT rricE.

UNDERTAKERS COOLING-BOARD.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent N 0. 776,313, dated November 29, 1904.

Application filed March 2, 1904,

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, LLOYD E. FosDIoK, a citizen of the United States, residing at Liberty, Union county, Indiana, (post-oflice address, Liberty, Indiana,) haveinvented certain new and useful Improvements in U ndertakers Cooling-Boards, of which the following is a specification.

In the operations of an is properly posed upon a cooling-board and allowed to rest until rigor mortis sets in, thus stiffening the body and permitting it to placed in the coflin. For a body of extra or even ordinary weight more than one person is required to transfer the body from the cooling board to the coiiin, thus necessitating the presence of undertaker assistants or otherwise the unhappy alternative of calling members of the family or friends to assist in the work. Furthermore, even with plenty of help there is liable to be more or less disturbance of the body in effecting the transfer by ordinary methods, thus necessitating extra labor after the body is in the coffin.

By means of my improved construction of Cooling-board one man can readily effect the transfer of the body to the coffin and without disturbance of it.

My invention will be readily understood from the following description, taken in connection with the accompanying drawings, in which- Figure l is a vertical longitudinal section of my improved cooling-board in the best form in which I at present contemplate embodying my invention, and Fig. 2 is a vertical transverse section of the same.

In the drawings, 1 is an open rectangular frame having width and length in its opening sufiicient to pass through it the greatest dimension of body to be dealt with by the device, this framework being preferably angular in cross-section in order to secure lightness along with strength and at the same time to furnish facilities for housing certain mechanism with which the device is preferably provided; 2, the cooling-board proper, this board forming a temporary floor for the frame; 3, hinges of loose-pin type, by means undertaker the body of which the board is separably connected Serial No. 196,126. (No model.)

with the frame, these hinges constituting, primarily, means for separably connecting the board and frame, and, secondarily, means by which the board may have a hinging motion relative to the frame; 4, hinged joints permitting the apparatus to be folded up into shorter length for convenience in transportation and storage; 5, legs hinged at each end of the frame and provided with casters and adapted to be folded up within the frame when the apparatus is not in use; 6, a shaft journaled upon each of the side members of the frame and extending parallel with such side member and housed in under its upper portion; 7, a slip-coupling uniting the two sections of which each shaft is composed, the employment of such coupling, whatever its form may be, being merely incidental to the desire to fold the general structure up into smaller compass when not in use; 8, a cross-shaft mounted across one end of the frame and bevel-geared to the two longitudinal shafts; 9, a projecting end for this shaft to receive a winding-crank; 10, a ratchet preferably provided upon this shaft; 11, a friction-brake of any approved construction provided upon one of the shafts, the illustration showing it as being provided upon the cross-shaft; l2, strap-reels on the longitudinal shafts, three on each shaft, one at about the center of length of its shaft, the others near the ends of the shaft, the latter being arranged for shifting on non-circular portions of the shafts, and 13 straps extending across the frame over the board 2 and around upon appropriate opposite ones of the stop- .reels, these straps being provided with buckles or equivalent disconnectors.

In using the apparatus it is placed where desired, with the board 2in position and with the straps lying over the board. The body is then laid upon the board and posed and treated as desired and allowed to remain until stiffened. When the time has come for placing the body in the coflin, then the apparatus, with its load, is wheeled over the cofiin, which may occupy its ceremonial position, as on the usual pedestals. The shafts are then operated in an obvious manner to bring a strain upon the straps and lift the body entirely from the board 2, in which condition the support of the body is maintained by the brake or ratchet or both. The hinge-pins are then removed and the board removed, leaving the body resting on the straps in the open frame, or, if preferred, before the apparatus is Wheeled over the coffin the load may be supported upon the straps and the hinge-pins removed from one side of the board only, thus permitting the board to hang downwardly out of the Way. The body being thus supported entirely by the straps and disposed properly over the cofiin, it is lowered into the cofin by means of the mechanism, after which the straps are disconnected and Withdrawn and the apparatus removed. All of this Work of encoifining the body, as has been described, can be readily done by one person With ease, and the system is such as to bring about no serious disturbance of such pose, &c. as may have been given to the body While upon the board, a result hardly possible with the use of certain sliding systems Which have been proposed for encoffining bodies.

I claim as my invention 1. In a cooling-board, the combination of an open frame, a cooling-board detachably disposed Within the opening of the frame, rotary shafts mounted upon the frame, straps secured .to the shafts and extending across the frame 

